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Amazon Warriors want review of final

Kieron Pollard captain of the Barbados Tridents celebrates with the Limacol CPL trophy, after his team defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors, in the CPL 2014 final by the Lewis/Duckworth methord after three rain delays, at Warner Park, St Kitts, on Saturday night. Photo courtesy ESPN CRICINFO

The management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors is contesting the outcome of the second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final against the Barbados Tridents Warner Park, St Kitts/Nevis on Saturday.

In a release yesterday, the team said the decision was taken following a review of the sequence of events that took place during the game, noting the umpires’ indecision over the Duckworth/Lewis system cost them valuable time that could have allowed the completion of the game.

The release noted that the game started at 4.03 pm under overcast conditions and during the Barbados Tridents’ innings there were two rain interruptions—one at the end of 7 overs and the other at 11.2 overs. The Tridents eventually scored 152 runs for six.

At the start of the Warriors innings, the Duckworth/Lewis calculation sheet was provided as per norm. Rain interrupted the game at 15.5 overs with the Warriors at 107 for 4 wickets.

After the rain interruption, the covers were removed, mopping up took place, and the stumps were back in position, with the field and pitch ready for play to resume, the release said. This entire process was conducted under the supervision of the fourth umpire, who also indicated the restart of the game.

Both match umpires then went on the field when the stumps were up and subsequently went back off the field without communicating anything to the Warriors on the position of the game.

The release said it was clear at that stage that the umpires did not know the new Duckworth/Lewis calculations and this caused a further delay of more than 30 minutes within the stipulated match time.

At that point, the Warriors team manager asked about the restart of the game and was told that information would be provided in two minutes. But ten minutes later, with no information forthcoming, the manager again approached the umpires and was told that the game would restart at 8.40 pm with the full quota of overs to be bowled.

At that stage, CPL even went on to update the fans via social media that the game would continue in full. This update, the team said, can be viewed on www.facebook.com/CarnivalT20.

However, the team noted that the umpires then suddenly were consulting with the CPL technical committee, a strange occurrence in cricket since the sole decision makers are the umpires and the match referee.

Tridents captain Kieron Pollard and coach were then called and advised about the restart of the game at 8.40 pm and both reportedly objected to the decision.

Further consultations took place between the umpires, match referee and the CPL technical committee.

After a few minutes, the Warriors was informed by the match referee that the match was ended and Tridents was declared winner based on the Duckworth/Lewis calculations.

The team said it was important to note that based on the match referee’s game breakdown report, the second innings of the match should have been completed by 7.52 pm, but when the rain came and stopped play at 7.54 pm only 15.5 overs were completed. This, it said, demonstrated that there was a slow over rate by the Tridents and this was not dealt with by the umpires.

Subsequent to the biased final match, the Management of Guyana Amazon Warriors wrote CPL specifically with regard to the decision taken at the match and intends to vigorously pursue the arguments outlined above. Meanwhile, the Management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors has expressed deep appreciation for the support demonstrated by the fans throughout the tournament and will keep members of the public updated.